DPAC Chair, Jennifer Mezei, opened the meeting by welcoming and introducing

District Staff and School Trustees

**DPAC is the recognized voice of parents at the district level, and is made up of representatives from each PAC in

Burnaby School District #41. These school reps act as a liaison between their school PAC and DPAC, representing the views and interests of their PAC.

DPAC Executive:

Vice Chair Dave Dye (Cariboo Lougheed zone)

Treasurer Janet Reid (Kingsway South zone)

Secretary Katherine Robertson (Central West zone)

Secretary Jocelyn Schonekess (Brentwood North Zone)

Members at Large

Gjoa Andrichuk (Central West zone)

Victoria Brenden (Brentwood North zone)

Herman Louie (Central West zone)

2. Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS)

• Introduction

PBIS is district pilot project proposal (from LIF funding) to teach students appropriate behavior rather than a reactive approach of dealing with problem behavior. With the variety of backgrounds Burnaby students come from, PBIS gives students the tools for behavioral success and is an example of innovative ways to address common issues and concerns. There are a number of elementary schools participating in the pilot this year.

• Kelly Chow – Principal at Capitol Hill

Kelly Chow What is it and how does it work?

Educators work hard at finding ways to support students. The district has created a pilot project for school-wide use of strategies and interventions for all students; models range for strategies for a variety of students: all of the students, 5-10% of the population, and finally 1-8% of students receiving intensive support. A graphic of the Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) model is available at http://tinyurl.com/PBISTiers Capitol Hill has enacted phases to lay out their framework.

Phase I included for all Staff included Staff Training, a Self Assessment Survey (SAS) and feedback from a professional group in the US.

Phase II involved the School Staff setting up an “Expectation Matrix” of school expectations and follow up for the specific verbal praise (e.g. “being prepared”, “playing safely on the playground”, “good behaviour in the hot lunch line” and “what a clean desk looks like”.

Phase III is the practical record keeping of what’s happening that needs support. The ratio for correction is 5:1 – five good things for every one area of improvement. Besides verbal praise, students were “rewarded” with 15 minutes of Daily Physical Activity (DPA).

Mr. Chow showed a fun video that their school has made to reinforce correct behaviour at their school.

OUTCOMES: 50 % of referrals to the office have decreased!

DPAC Minutes May 2013

In Summary:

1. Teach expectations: Be positive and proactive

2. Collect data and analyze where the problem occurs

3. Meet to determine, “How do we, as a school, correct behaviour?”

Question: How transferrable are these skills outside of school e.g. at restaurants?

Answer: We are teaching parents by telling them in the newsletter and making presentations at their coffee time with parents. Skills would be to Set expectations before events occur with children; set up successes for the children and give natural positive feedback and consequences when the good behaviour is observed.

ACTION – Please see the DPAC website for a copy of the PowerPoint outlining the phases of the PBIS background and phases.

3. Middle Years Development Instrument (MDI) Report – Burnaby

• Peter Dubinsky – Stoney Creek Principal

Peter reported on the data that has just come out from the Human Early Learning Partnership at UBC who piloted this program for Grade 4s. (Early Years Development Instrument (EDIs) are done in Kindergarten)

1. The importance of Middle Childhood

Timeline of Development: Birth, Early Childhood Middle Childhood, Adolescence. The area of the least amount of research is in the middle childhood years. The focus of this study was on the mental wellness because of the importance of prevention efforts. Grade 4 is an important transitional time in development.

“Every child requires someone in his or her life who is absolutely crazy about them.” Urie Bronfenbrenner.

2. The children were asked to do a self-report survey on their Connectedness (to Adults, peers, afterschool, adults in the neighbourhood, friendships) School Experiences (school climate, belonging) Physical Health and Well-being (body image, eating breakfast, meals with adults at home, sleep)

Social and Emotional Development (Self-esteem, happiness, worries)

3. Results 82% of children in Burnaby participated, approximately 1200 students.

The survey covered areas such as “Thriving”, “Medium to High Well-Being” and “Low Well-Being”

ACTION – The specific data will be posted on the Burnaby DPAC website for Burnaby data in general. Individual administrators have the information of their specific school, but the data is collected to find information of connecting students to their community. Check this link:

http://earlylearning.ubc.ca/maps/mdi/nh/ for details on the results from each district.

A separate question was asked about why students are not “participating in desired after

school activities.” The number one answer was that they have to go straight home after school.

The students reported that they wanted to be outside doing physical activities and more music.

4. Follow-up Action is to work with community partner groups and to watch for trends and have students to do an MDI for Grade 7s.

Q/A – Question – are there any follow up focus groups put together?

Answer – the school district would like to start doing this.

Question – is the MDI useable for mental health detection?

Answer: Probably not this tool. But it can act as a conversation starter for these kids.

Question – how are the parents involved in the process?

Answer: This tool highlights that this is a big transition year and the students need support and interventions that can be put in place.

Jen thanked the DPAC for the support she has had during her three years as DPAC Chair and feels we’re one of the strongest DPACs in the province. Jen reported that the DPAC Executive works well as a team and has had the pleasure of working with them. Jen thanked Janet Reid, an outgoing executive member, after her five years of serving on the team. Janet’s last child is graduating from the Burnaby School District. Janet recommends getting some of the new parents onboard!

5. Break

6. Treasurer’s Report 2013/2014 Budget

• Janet Reid –DPAC Treasurer

Janet will post a year end budget and the actuals on the DPAC website. Her report covered some of the following actuals to date:

• The General Funds were at $993.62.

• The Gaming Funds received $2,500 at the beginning of the year, and we have $1,237

remaining. The Gaming Grant has to be spent that academic year. Applications for

2013/2014 have a deadline of the end of June 2013.

• District Grant Reimbursement Money is budgeted “for parents education events” for $6,000 and used to cover Gaming fund purchases. District Grant has been spent at $1,570 to date.

Jen Mezei made a motion to buy a $150 binder for Earthquake preparedness procedures for all Burnaby Schools to have the same protocol and can be lent out to PACs. Seconded by Jocelyn Schonekess. Terry Gomez, the Safety Officer for Burnaby, supports the information that was given at last month’s PIE. Motion Carried.

Jen Mezei made a motion to use up to $1,000 of the district grant to update the DPAC website. Seconded by Mary Mirhady. Motion Carried.

7. Elections – due to a technical difficulty, we did this item 6th.

• Janet Reid –DPAC Treasurer

Janet reported that we need to have two representatives from each of the four zones. (See above).

Representatives must have a child in one of the school zones. After nominated and elected, the executive committee will choose the Chair, Vice Chair, Treasurer, Secretary, Members at Large. No school district employee shall be selected to be a committee officer.